Berlusconi Mingles in Marrakech

Aujourd'hui Le Maroc, a French-language Moroccan daily has reported that Berlusconi was in Marrakech (Morocco) this past week to celebrate his wife's 50th birthday. Berlusconi planned the trip for Veronica on the sly, having her children pretend they were taking her to the Guggenheim in Bilbao (Spain) for her birthday. Veronica was escorted to Morocco, and upon arrival brought to Cafè de France (where her 7 best female friends surprised her when they peeled off their burkas) and then to a posh restaurant called Dar Marjana, where Berlusconi, dressed up as a Berber (his face covered in a blue veil), performed traditional dances and invited Veronica to dance. Veronica refused, not knowing who the veiled man was. Suddenly, the music stopped. Berlusconi (still veiled) whipped out a diamond necklace and began singing "Happy Birthday, amore mio".

The paper further reported that Berlusconi, while moseying through the souk, "promised" to be "back within a month" -- at once addicted to the same morphine marocaine that hooked the Clintons, the Chiracs and Martha Stewart.